Mercier looked at the floor.
"I think not," said Inspector Zhang. "If you stabbed him at the closet, there would be blood there. The only place where there is blood is the bed. Therefore you stabbed him on the bed."
"We were struggling. I pushed him back."
"And then you stabbed him?"
"My pen was in my top pocket. He grabbed it during the struggle and tried to force it into my eye. I pushed it away and it…" He fell silent, unable or unwilling to finish the sentence.
"You stabbed him in the throat?"
Mercier nodded.
"And then rather than leaving the room, you hid in the closet again?"
"I didn’t know what else to do. I knew that he had ordered room service so I couldn't risk being seen in the corridor."
"So you waited until the room service waiter discovered the body and while he was phoning the front desk you slipped out of the closet?"
Mercier nodded. "I went through to the next room but there was someone in the corridor so I couldn’t leave and I had to pretend that I’d just arrived. It was an accident, Inspector Zhang. I swear."
"That’s for a judge to consider," said Inspector Zhang. "There is one more piece of evidence that I require from you, Mr. Mercier. Your handkerchief."
"My handkerchief?"
"I notice that unlike your colleagues you do not have a handkerchief in your pocket," said the inspector. "I therefore assume that you used it to wipe the blood from your hands after you killed Mr. Wilkinson."
Mercier reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a blood-stained handkerchief. Sergeant Lee held out a plastic evidence bag and Mercier dropped the handkerchief into it.
Inspector Zhang nodded at the two uniformed policemen. "Take him away, please."
The officers handcuffed Mercier and led him out of the room. Inspector Zhang nodded at the two evidence bags that Sergeant Lee was holding, containing the pen and the handkerchief. "You can send them to your friends in Forensics," he said.
"I will," she said.
"I suppose it does prove one thing," said Inspector Zhang. He smiled slyly.
"What is that, Inspector?" asked the Sergeant.
"Why, that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword," he said. He grinned. "There is no need to write that down, Sergeant Lee."